Subtitles of the Movie

In this movie, we'll begin covering the workbook review questions found in your work files. Our focus will be on the questions dealing with Activity Definition of which there are fourteen. Let's begin with the first which states what is the purpose of this process. And as you see, the purpose of the Activity Definition Process is to create a list of Scheduled Activities that are necessary to produce the project deliverables. Questions two, three and four provide a review of the process's inputs, tools and techniques and outputs. Notice in the outputs Activity List along with its partner, Activity Attributes. As a reminder, a good method would be to focus on the outputs and see if you can determine which inputs you'd need to generate them and what tools and techniques will help you do this. Question five says a WBS is decomposed down to the work package level. A work package is decomposed down to blank. And the answer is activity level. This is the Activity List output that I had just pointed out. Moving on to question six, it says who completes the Activity Definition of a work package. And that would be the team members responsible for that work package. This is where Expert Judgment comes into play. If the individual estimating the activity doesn't have this level of knowledge, the estimates will not be as accurate, even with historical information since there may be other factors that need to be considered, which only someone knowledgeable in that subject would know. Question seven states what type of templates can be utilized for the Activity Definition Process. This response can vary, but here are a few examples that you may have put down as a response: Activity List, resource skills and their acquired hours of effort, identification of risks, expected deliverables, typical Scheduled Milestones and there you are, other potentially valuable information, since this can vary. Question eight says in Rolling Wave Planning, how far can the project team plan. And the answer is that the work to be accomplished in the near term is planned in detail at a low level of the WBS, while work further in the future is planned for WBS components that are at a high level of the WBS. Moving right along to question nine, it says how is the Planning Component technique useful. And the answer is that it's used when not enough information is available to decompose a portion of the WBS down to the work package level. So again, the answer is when there's not enough information. Question ten says what are the two types of Planning Components and you can see that this is a follow up of number nine. And the two types include a Control Account and a Planning Package. Question eleven asks what is included within an Activity List. There are two important items and that is an Activity Identifier and a Scope of Work Description. And that Scope of Work Description is provided in sufficient detail to ensure that the project team members understand the work that's to be done. Question twelve asks you to name the items that can be included within Activity Attributes. There are a few things you could have chosen from. These includes Activity Identifier, Activity Codes, Activity Description and that description can included predecessor activities, successor activities, logical relationships, leads and lags, resource requirements, imposed dates, constraints and assumptions and also they may contain the person that's responsible for executing the work, the geographical area or place the work will be performed and the scheduled activity type. Question thirteen says a Milestone List is a component of. And the answer is the Project Management Plan. And we have one last question for review, which is fourteen. What is the difference between a Mandatory Milestone and an Optional Milestone? Well, a Mandatory Milestone is identified by the contract. And the Optional Milestone is based on historical information or project requirements so it's more of like a best practice or from experience. And that concludes our review of the workbook questions relating to Activity Definition and also the process as a whole.